Gildersj leaf and method of making same



UNITED STATES PATENT Orricu.

OSIVALD MIOHALK, OF BROOKLYN, NEV YORK.

GILDERS LEAF AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 597,012, dated January 11, 1898.

Application filed February 27, 1897. Serial No. 625,340. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSWALD MICHALK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gilders Leaf and Methods of Making Same; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to a composite foil or leaf for gilding purposes and also to a method of making the same.

The object of my invention is to produce a gilders leaf which will have all the advantages of the usual gold-leaf, yet which will be about one-half as expensive as the latter.

lVith this object in view my invention consists of a leaf formed with a front sheet of gold and a backing-sheet of aluminium.

My invention consists also in the method of producing such a composite leaf.

The production of substitutes for the ordinary gold-leaf has often been attempted, but without success. For instance, a composite leaf having a front sheet of gold and abackingsheet of silver has been produced; but while such a composite leaf is somewhat cheaper than the ordinary gold-leaf and can be successfully manufactured its commercial value is small from the fact that the silver soon tarnishes and thereby destroys the color of the gold front sheet, giving it a tarnished appearance. It is also old to combine a front sheet of gold with a backing-sheet of aluminium-bronze; but this kind of leaf will tarnish in the same way as the silver-gold leaf.

I have found that a composite-sheet leaf composed of a front sheet of gold and a backing-sheet of aluminium avoids the disadvantages arising in the use of composite leaves hitherto known and has all the advantages of the ordinary golcl-leaf,while its cost of production is much less than the latter; but I have found that aluminium-gold composite leaves cannotbe produced in the manner in which the composite leaves having backingsheets of other metals are produced, for the reason that there is a great difference in the actions of aluminium and gold, respectively,

during the beating of them together. -With other metal, such as silver or aluminiumbronze, there is no appreciable difference, and therefore in making, for instance, a silvergold leaf each sheet is beaten separately in a cutch, after which the silver backing-sheet and the gold front sheet are placed together and beaten first in a shoder and then in a mold, the two sheets becoming firmly united to form one composite sheet; but it is not possible to produce an aluminium-gold leaf in this way, because under such a method the aluminium will not unite with the gold. I have discovered, however, that a composite aluminium-gold leaf may be produced successfully by the following method:

I take three and one-half ounces of sheetaluminium and cut it into eight hundred squares of the size used in the ordinary beating of metals in a cutch. These eight hundred squares are beaten in a five-inch cutch, the skins of which must be dampened. This step of dampening the skins of the said cutch is extremely important, as I have found by actual experience, though why I am unable to state. After the aluminium sheets are beaten in the cutch they are quartered, thus producing three thousand two hundred sheets. I then take four ounces of sheetgold, cut it into two hundred squares, and beat them out in a cutch, the skins of the cutch in this case being dry, as is usual. The two hundred squares are then quartered, thus producing eight hundred squares, which are beaten out in a shoder, the skins of the shoder also being dry. After the completion of this step the eight hundred squares are quartered, thus producing three thousand two hundred squares. Each quartered shoderleaf of gold is next placed upon a quartered cutch-leaf of aluminium and both together inserted in a mold, which must be dry. After being beaten in this mold the composite sheets are again quartered, thus producing twelve thousand eight hundred sheets, which are again inserted in a dry mold and beaten until completed. The composite leaves are then ready for insertion in the books.

By this method an aluminium-gold leaf is produced in which the sheets of different metals are firmly secured to each other and Too the gold front is free from blisters or Wrinkles and will not tarnish or come loose from the backing-sheet, while the cost of the composite leaf is greatly reduced, since the additional labor expended is counterbalanced by the saving in gold.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The method of producing a composite gilders leaf, composed of aluminium and gold sheets, which consists in beating the backingsheet in a cutch, then beating a gold front leaf in acutch and shoder, then placing the gold front sheet on the backing-sheet and beating both in a mold, substantially as described.

2. The method of producing a composite gilders leaf, composed of aluminium and gold sheets, which consists in beating the backingsheet in a cut-ch, then beating the gold front sheet in a cutch and shoder, then placing the gold front sheet on the backing-sheet and beating both in a mold, then quartering the composite leaf thus far produced, and again beating the quartered sheets in a mold, su bstantially as described.

3. The method of producing a composite gilders leaf, which consists in beating the backing-sheet in dampened skins, then beating the gold front sheet in dry skins, then placing the two together and beating in dry skins, substantially as described.

4:. The method of producing a composite gilders leaf, which consists in beating the backing-sheet in a dampened cutch, then beating the-gold front sheet in a dry cutcn and a dry shoder, then placing the front sheet on the backing-sheet and beating the two in a dry mold, substantially as described.

5. A composite gilders leaf having a front of gold and a backing of aluminium, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

OSWALD MICHALK.

lVitnesses:

HENRY B. SALISBURY, HERMANN MODER. 

